


three hundred and fifty three days

by weasleysking



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Emo Mike Wheeler, Hurt, mike is probably depressed lets be honest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 07:10:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20385727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weasleysking/pseuds/weasleysking
Summary: everyday after el is taken by the demogorgon, mike talks to her.





	three hundred and fifty three days

Mike sat alone in his basement, huddled under the blanket fort he and Lucas and Dustin had made only weeks ago. Smothered amongst the warmth of the blankets, Mike lay wide awake, breathing in and out deeply. Trying to pick up her scent. El’s scent. She’d always smelt of something comforting, he’d thought. He couldn’t place it, but it was there. It had been a week since everything seemingly had come to a close. After they’d visited Will in the hospital, Mike had returned home. Briefly elated by the sight of his best friend awake and okay, he’d returned home with Nancy and locked himself in his room. The next day he’d found it very simple to fake sick and his mum had let him stay home. Half an hour after everyone had left the house, he went down to the basement and sat under the many blankets that had kept Eleven warm when she’d stayed in his house. He sat there, all day, just thinking. Thinking about how much he missed her. The next day he’d managed to get away with being sick too. That morning, before Nancy had left for school, she’d cautiously entered Mike’s room. 

“Mike?” She asked softly, and came and sat on the end of his bed. He’d turned over and pulled the blankets up higher over his head.  
“Mike,” She said again. “I know this is so hard on you. And I know you feel like you can’t talk to anyone about this. Mom or Dad are out of the question. Your friends, they understand to an extent, I know. And Hopper, Mrs Byers, Jonathan… but Mike, remember what we promised. No more secrets, okay? So...talk to me. How do you feel?”  
Mike slowly turned over and sat up, his head still slumped against the pillows. He looked pale. Though he had spent the previous two days sleeping, the bags under his eyes were prominent.  
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “Empty.”  
Nancy grabbed his hand. He didn’t squirm out of the way as he would of if it had been a few weeks earlier. He just sat there.  
“I know,” she said quietly. “Oh Mike, I know. I’m sorry.”  
They had sat there like that for a few more minutes, then Nancy, unsure of what to say to her brother now, had kissed him gently on the head and left him to it as she went to school. 

Moments after he’d heard the door slam the third time and both his parents and siblings had left, he threw the covers off and pulled a sweatshirt over the t-shirt he was wearing. The navy blue sweatshirt had been sitting on his floor amongst the mess of clothes since El had taken it off to get changed into Nancy’s dress.  
The dress she was wearing when that thing took her, he thought, and before he could stop himself, he was walking down to the basement and sitting under the blanket fort. Only weeks ago they’d made this, him and Lucas and Dustin, while El had sat watching them intently. He lay cuddled into the pillows she’d slept on, and breathed in the smell, her smell. What was it? Whatever it was, it comforted him. Without warning, a couple of tears slid down his face. Angrily swiping them away, he sat up. If only there was some way he could talk to her. If only one last time. He could say… what. What would he say? He missed her? He wanted her to come home? Her real home. 

“Mike, Mike, come in buddy!” Mike jumped in surprise when Lucas’s crackling voice came through on his walkie talkie. He’d forgotten it was lying next to him. He picked it up, trying to sound as normal as possible.  
“Hi. I’m here. What’s up? Over.”  
More crackling. “Why aren’t you at school? Without Will, only half the party’s here! Over.”  
Mike sighed. “Um, I’m sick. Over.”  
“You don’t sound sick! Over.”  
“I am, okay?!” He replied definitely. “Over.”  
There was a pause. More crackling. “Are you s-”  
Another voice joined the static background. “Leave him alone dumbass! He’s probably upset about El-”  
That was all Mike needed to hear. He didn’t want the others feeling sorry for him, thinking he was at home alone crying over Eleven. He turned off the walkie talkie and shoved it under a pillow.  
Lying back down again, he stared up at the roof of the fort. 

Mike was so sure that Eleven was alive. He’d had the same hunch when Will had gone missing, and look where that had gotten them, right? El was alive. It was just a matter of finding where she’d gone. That thing, the stupid demogorgon, it had taken her. Back to the upside down? Or had she come back later and had Brenner found her again? He couldn’t bare to think that she was back anywhere remotely near that man, or stuck in some hell dimension. 

A little while later, he was still lost in thought when he turned over and felt something under the pillow. A little too eagerly, as though he was expecting to find something of hers under there, he yanked the pillow out from under him, but it was just his stupid walkie talkie. He grabbed it angrily and threw it across the room. It landed with a crash against the wall opposite him, but surprisingly it didn’t break. It did, however, hit the shelf that had a few of his old toys on it. He got up, grabbing the walkie talkie and staring down at the toys. He and Eleven, they’d sat down here one night, and he’d showed these to her. He smiled slightly as he remembered her shock when one of the electronic ones had made a noise, he went and sat down back in the fort, grasping the walkie talkie. Then, quite suddenly, he had an idea. 

Don’t get your hopes up, he told himself quickly, as he turned the walkie talkie back on and fiddling with the switches. For god’s sake, don’t get your hopes up. But he couldn’t help it. It was a great idea. Breathing deeply, in and out, with surprisingly steady hands, he brought the walkie talkie to his face.  
“El,” he whispered. “Eleven, are you there?”  
Static. Silence.  
“Eleven,” he breathed, trying to keep his voice steady. “If you’re there, can you give me a sign? Anything. It can really be anything, I’m sure I’ll get it.”  
The crackling continued.  
“Please El,” Mike closed his eyes. “Are you there?” His voice broke. He held the radio so tightly in his hand that his knuckles were turning white.  
The silence remained. With a heavy heart, Mike placed the walkie talkie gently beside him. He was just about to turn it off and go back upstairs to bed, when-  
“Mike.”  
Mike spun around so fast he nearly fell over. Diving back into the fort, he grabbed the walkie talkie with shaking hands.  
“Eleven! El! Are you there?!” Impatiently, he waited for a reply.  
“Mike.”  
Her voice was so far away Mike felt like they were standing at opposite ends of a football field and whispering to each other. But it didn’t matter. He could feel her. He could feel her connection. She was there. Eleven was alive. He’d felt it with Will and now he felt it with her.  
“El! I’m here! I’m here! It’s Mike, it’s me!”  
The crackling continued, but Mike didn’t care. He didn’t care if she didn’t reply to him for days, weeks, but he knew she was there. He cradled the walkie talkie spitting static sounds at him as he walked upstairs, and there he sat for the rest of the afternoon.  
He was anxious to turn it off again at night, but figured he needed to save its power anyway, and with a bit of luck, if she’d reached him once, she could reach him again. That night, Mike fell asleep quicker than he had for the last week, and the next morning, he was up earlier than the sun, turning it on and taking it down to Saturday morning breakfast with him. 

Later that evening, after nothing had happened all day, Mike decided that in order to save battery, he would only turn it on every evening for a while and try to reach El. He figured she would only reply if she knew it was him on the line- she knew how dangerous it was otherwise.  
But she had been there. She had really been there. Eleven was alive and he was sure of it.  
She was alive. Eleven was alive.  
“Eleven? It’s me again. I heard you yesterday, I’m sure of it. If you can give me a sign again, you don’t even have to speak. Just let me know you’re still there.”  
There was no reply, but there was no way Mike was giving up on her now. He’d heard her, she was out there somewhere.  
“I am not going to give up on you!” He said louder than he expected, then jumped when Nancy poked her head into his bedroom door.  
“Are you...okay?” She asked, frowning.  
“I’m fine,” he replied quickly, and waited for her to leave before quickly bringing the walkie talkie up to his face again.  
“I’m not going to give up on you,” he said, softer this time. “I promise.” 

“El? It’s me. This is, um, the fourth day I’ve called you. I went back to school today. It was kind of weird. Oh, Troy won’t come near me anymore, all thanks to you I suppose. He’s leaving me and Dustin and Lucas alone now! It’s great. Um. Yeah. Are you there? Please, just… tell me. If you can. If you’re there.”

“Eleven, it’s me. This is the 15th day I’ve called you. Will came back to school today! It was great, but, he asked about you, and I didn’t really know what to say. How you saved him… how you saved all of us. I haven’t told the others I’m doing this, by the way. I don’t know what they’ll think. They miss you too, but I’m just not sure what to say. Um. Please tell me if you’re there.” 

“El. It’s Mike. This is day 29. Jonathan took us to the arcade today, it was pretty cool. Dustin’s getting really good at a couple of the games. In one of the games you have to slay this demon and we all agreed it kind of looked like the demogorgon. We managed to kill it. I wish you could have seen it. Are you there El?”

“Hey, it’s me again. This is day 42. Today after science Mr Clarke let us go in the AV room. It was the first time we’d been in there since we were with you. We talked about you a bit. I miss you El. We all miss you. Please talk to me if you can.”

“Eleven, It’s Mike. It’s day 58. Today I walked in on Nancy and Steve making out, it was kind of gross. Like, they were lying on Nancy’s bed, kissing...not, not like you and me though. They kiss gross. I didn’t think ours was… I didn’t mean… I liked our kiss. It wasn’t dumb like theirs. You never got to meet Steve, but he’s cool I guess. Er...contact me if you can.” 

“Hi El. It’s me...again. Today is day 74. School is getting pretty boring. We have some exams coming up and I think I’ll do fine in all of them except PE, and I don’t really care about that one anyway. PE is like, running and playing games and stuff. Send me anything, say something, if you can.” 

“Eleven, it’s day 87. Today was Will’s birthday and Mrs Byers cooked us all dinner and made a really cool cake. She asked us all how we felt, and honestly, all I could really think about was you. I said I was doing okay. I think she knew though. She hugged me before I left. I think she misses you too. We all do. If you’re out there, please say something.” 

“It’s me, El, it’s Mike. It’s day 100. I sat a maths exam today. I’ve been missing you so much recently that it’s been hard for me to concentrate. I feel bad but I had to copy some answers off Dustin. I just can’t really think at the moment. Please answer me.” 

“El. It’s Mike. This is day 111. So the teacher found out I copied off Dustin’s test. Lucky he didn’t get in trouble. Mom and dad are really angry at me. They got called in to have a meeting with the headmaster, and he said I’d also been turned in for graffiting the wall of the toilets. It’s so stupid. I have to do detention and everything. Mom and dad have taken away a bunch of my toys and we got in this huge fight. I started yelling at them that they just didn’t understand, which they DON’T. They don’t know how much I miss you. They don’t know how much we went through. I’m so mad. Nancy tried to help. She’s been good lately. Really good. If you were here, you’d understand. I just… I just miss you so much. Please talk to me.” 

“It’s me. Today is day 136. No one’s really heard from Hopper lately so it was a bit of a surprise when he came into our school today for a speech in assembly. It was just about some dumb road safety thing and about not talking to strangers. He kept catching me and Lucas and Dustin and Will’s eyes. We were all sitting in the corner, and for some reason, when Hopper started talking about not riding your bike or walking alone at night time, we all started cracking up. Like, laughing so hard. We couldn’t stop. After everything we’d been through, you’d think we’d be more serious about it. But we couldn’t stop laughing. Because we were the only people in that stupid hall that knew there were more than just creepy adults and forests to get lost in out there. Hopper was trying hard not to laugh too. We talked to him a bit after, but he left pretty quickly. We miss you, El. You would have laughed too. Say something...if you can.” 

“Eleven? It’s Mike, and it’s day 153. I miss you. Please talk to me if you can.” 

“It’s me again El. Today is day 169. We went on this field trip today to the science museum. A museum is like a place where you can look at, like, stuff. Like, old stuff. Um. Yeah. It was really interesting but today was one of those days I just couldn’t stop thinking about you. I miss you El. I won’t give up on you. Send me anything. Anything at all.” 

“Hi El. It’s me. This is day 182. Today when we were walking along the corridor to English class, these guys in suits walked past. They looked at us kind of funny and we all kind of freaked out for a couple of seconds, kind of automatically thinking they looked a bit like..you know. The bad men. But I’m pretty sure they weren’t. You probably would have known. It was strange, and, well, I didn’t feel as safe as I have when you’ve been there with me. We talked about you for a bit after that. We miss you El. Please say something.” 

“Eleven, it’s Mike. Today is day 200. I promised you I wouldn’t give up on you, but this is the 200th day I’ve called you and… Please El, give me anything, you don’t have to say a word, just a sign, because I know you’re out there but I need something...Please.” 

“Okay what I said yesterday was bullshit and I’m sorry and of course I won’t give up on you and I miss you so so so much you can send me a sign when you can don’t feel like you have to do anything I just miss you please just send me something when you can. It’s Mike, by the way.” 

“Hey El, it’s me. This is day 216. I wish you were at school with me, you would make it so much more interesting. It’s not that I can’t do the work, it’s just boring. I feel like after everything we went through, there’s more important things I could be doing to help people. I’m sure you’d understand. I wish you were here. Talk to me if you can.” 

“Eleven? It’s Mike. today is day 229. Please talk to me. Say something. Send me some sort of signal. Please.” 

“El? Are you there? It’s me. It’s day, uh, 246. I’m pretty done with school. Mom and Dad are kind of always mad at me at the moment and I don’t even know what I’m doing wrong. I’m just...over it. If you were here El, you’d understand. Please say something soon.” 

“Eleven. It’s Mike. It’s day 261. Today when we were at the arcade, there was a new game and we pooled our money to play as a team like we usually do. We usually go under either Dustin’s name or ‘The Party’ on the scoreboard. That’s where you can see all your scores on the games and stuff. But because it was a new game we needed a new name. I suggested we name our team Eleven, and everyone kind of liked that. The character we played as actually lived in another dimension, so it was like, kind of cool. Anyway. We’re first on the scoreboard so if you ever...I mean if we… When we see each other again… I’ll...I’ll take you and show you. God, I, I miss you...Please reply.” 

“Hi El, it’s me. It’s day 283. I walked to the shops today to get milk for mom and I saw Hopper. He was acting really weird. It felt kind of like he was hiding something. He was buying loads of food, like more than he’d need for just one person. Dustin thinks he might have a girlfriend but I think that’s dumb. He’s so...old. I dunno. Anyway. Please talk to me if you can.” 

“Day 300. I miss you, Eleven. I…” 

“Hi El. It’s day 305. I’m about to have dinner but it’s going to be awkward because Steve’s here and dinner with Steve is always really awkward and dumb because Mom’s always like freaking out about it and Dad just acts really grumpy. They’re so annoying. And it means I can’t watch TV after dinner ‘coz Steve and Nancy will be hogging the TV. Assholes. I can’t wait for you to meet Steve though, he’s...I mean, well, I mean, if you ever...I mean… nevermind. I… Please send me a signal if you can El.” 

“Eleven, it’s Mike. Today is day 319. Today we were at Lucas’s and we started a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign. That’s the game we were playing in my basement when you first came to my house. It’s going to be a good one I think. Maybe our best yet. Are you there El? Please reply to me.” 

“El, it’s day 338. Did you know soon it will be a year since I’ve seen you? I thought… well I thought it would get easier, but I just miss you more and more every day. I know everyone else misses you too but I think for some reason they’re getting annoyed at me talking about you all the time. I feel like you’re the only person I can talk to...but you can’t talk back. If you’re hearing this...I think it’s safe to talk back to me. Please. If you can.”

“Hey Eleven. It’s me again. Day 344. Yesterday at lunch they started selling tickets to the snowball. I...I know it’s not that far away but I haven’t really given up on the idea of going with you. I bought two tickets today so...so if you’re there… then… I….El, I…” 

“El? It’s Mike. Day 350. In six days it will have been a year since I’ve seen you. That’s crazy. I miss you Eleven.”

“Eleven? Eleven it’s me. It’s day 353. If you’re out there, please. Just give me a sign-”  
Mike stopped. “Eleven?” He whispered, looking straight ahead. He couldn’t see anything, but...  
He could feel her.  
She was there.  
She wasn’t saying anything, but he knew that feeling. The feeling that he knew that somewhere out there, watching, listening. He’d felt it every day, but never as strong as this. He’d known she was out there listening, but this time it was like she was right there. In front of him. 

She could hear him.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!  
i'm on tumblr too, come cry with me over fiction! @miss-mysticfalls


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